SiliconBeat

IPass, the Redwood City developer of business-mobility software that has been struggling with disgruntled investors this year who have urged the company to sell itself, named a new chief executive Monday to take over later this month to replace current CEO Kenneth Denman, who will be leaving the company (drum roll, please) “to pursue other business opportunities.”

One job Denman will immediately give up is that of iPass’s board chairman, which will now be filled by John Beletic, a venture partner with Oak Investment Partners.

Joining the company as CEO mid-November will be Evan Kaplan, the founder and chief executive of Aventail, a supplier of virtual  private networking equipment and services that is also called a “strategic partner” of iPass.

Last January, iPass’s largest investor, Shamrock Capital, urged the company to “immediately” start the process of selling the company, something the company has resisted. But most of the board disagreed, including Peter Clapman, “a nationally recognized expert on corporate governance” who was one of the two directors that Shamrock had representing its interests on the board.

In June, iPass hired an investment bank firm to help it “review the company’s strategic alternatives,” but after considering the alternatives, “the board unanimously determined to continue to focus on a stand-alone strategy as it strives to maximize shareholder value.”

The board has a new antagonist, however. Foxhill Capital Partners, which now owns about 5.9 percent of iPass, making it the company’s second largest shareholder, renewed the call in September for the company to sell itself, especially in light of the fact that “35 percent of iPass’s outstanding shares held by shareholders other than directors, executive officers and Shamrock believe that the board of directors is not properly representing the interests of the shareholders,” based on the results from the company’s most recent shareholder meeting.

The company also released results for its third quarter on Monday. While it met expectations for a one-cent per share profit, its forecast for sales this quarter between $47 and $50 million was below Wall Streets’ consensus forecast of $50.7 million. It also estimated that its CEO transitions will cost it between $400,000 and $600,000 during the quarter.